


The Results Come In

by trillian_jdc



Series: Established Portfolio [7]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: 2020 US Presidential Election, Elections, M/M, Texting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:13:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27419344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trillian_jdc/pseuds/trillian_jdc
Summary: Mycroft and Greg watch the returns for the 2020 US Presidential Election.
Relationships: Mycroft Holmes/Greg Lestrade
Series: Established Portfolio [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1865395
Comments: 19
Kudos: 82





	The Results Come In

Mycroft may have come to regret giving Greg full access to his home media office, with all its feeds and data sources. 

It had seemed a good idea at the time. With the American election promising a bit of drama, when Greg expressed interest in finding out more, Mycroft had made the invitation. It was beneficial to their growing relationship to develop more shared interests, of course, and this particular political contest had plenty of coverage and well-established rules. Not that they mattered to the current American leader, but (although he would never let the merest wisp of this thought be visible to anyone) Mycroft had hopes that this might be the time for a needed change in that area. 

They'd talked about the likely path the election would take. When a leader tells his followers not to use mail-in voting, it should come as no surprise to him that they don't, even when it was much the safer thing to do. In addition to avoiding potential infection with the pandemic virus, it would provide more of a paper trail in the case of needed future investigation, but maybe that was the problem. Mycroft, in spite of his skills and like many others, sometimes was confused as to whether to consider the American President an effective manipulator or an idiot. No matter how much logic and observation he engaged in, he knew one can't always predict crazy. 

Election night -- well, election early morning their time -- they decided to treat as a small party for the two of them. Snacks, drinks, the major American network feeds running in the background. It would be about four hours, they could end in the early morning with breakfast together, and they'd both made plans for the following morning off so they could catch up on their sleep after. Mycroft had already provided Greg with some basic educational materials about the odd American Electoral College system, which he had actually read as promised. 

Setting their plans adrift, the networks didn't declare states, and the results were closer than polling had indicated, and the vote-counting dragged on. The two men gave up after an extra couple of hours, had their meal, and went to bed. They were too tired to do more than snuggle, but the cozy presence of another person was reassuring in light of global uncertainty. 

After waking up together, Mycroft mentioned that the situation meant he'd need to circulate more at work this week, to calm nerves and educate those uncomfortable with the lack of decision. He mentioned that Greg was welcome to continue watching in the media room whenever he wished, secretly thrilled that this gave him an opportunity to gift Greg the key to his home he'd been thinking about sharing with him. 

Thankfully, Anthea had taken responsibility for teaching Greg the various controls and inputs to the system. Mycroft didn't think even a long-standing partnership could have withstood that sort of training session. 

What Mycroft should have realized was that Greg was a chatter. Which meant he was receiving regular texts about the ongoing process and how it was being reported. When he had time to reflect, though, it was a pleasant surprise to be with someone reacting to the updates with such emotional enthusiasm. His day-to-day chats on the topic were transactional, as officials attempted to work out what it meant and what would benefit them. Greg clearly had a favorite -- of course, it was the candidate with the working man's background -- and was rooting for him the way he did at sporting events. 

Mycroft would have to make sure to archive the exchanges for posterity. Some of the highlights over the past few days had been: 

_It always such a nail-biter? This is better than a match! Slower, though._

_Seems the AP (that right?) called Arizona earlier than the others. Different numbers, different maps -- seeing all these compared is ace._ (Mycroft was glad to note Greg had managed the multiple monitors.) 

_Does Trump always sound like a rambling old man?_ (Mycroft snickered to himself. Greg had always been more perceptive than he let on.) 

_Oooh, they cut him off! That host didn't seem happy she had to tell viewers again that what he was saying was false._ (Mycroft had already noted that the US news media was more willing to contradict or question his claims than they had been prior. Seemed the mood had changed.) 

_This Arizona footage is concerning, Myc. They've got guys with serious firepower, high-powered long guns, just standing around. The commentator has said several times that this is nothing to worry about but the pictures!_ (Mycroft made a mental note that America's gun attitudes might be a fruitful conversation topic; he'd like to learn more about Greg's history and level of comfort with firearms.) 

_They've got one group yelling for counting and another group on the same side yelling to stop._ (Mycroft knew Greg was aware of how many politicians chose expediency over ethics. He was likely stating his thoughts as a way of establishing shared experience. This gave Mycroft a warm feeling. Maybe this access was a beneficial idea after all.) 

_Biden's ahead in Georgia! Have you met this Stacey Abrams they're talking about? She sounds brilliant!_ (Mycroft had not but intended to the next time he had to visit the US. Along with many of the other leaders who worked together to re-energize younger voters. He saw the importance of understanding upcoming trends before they fully manifested.) 

Mycroft checked his watch. It was late afternoon, early enough to wrap up and join Greg for dinner. He'd bring takeout, and they could watch the final call for Joe Biden together. There would be additional news over the next two months -- Mycroft was looking forward to hearing the gossip around who had actually had to take the job of explaining to the current president that he had lost -- but as for tonight, Greg's response was likely to be energetic, and Mycroft would like to be in the room when that happened. He was looking forward to benefiting from the need for Greg to express his enjoyment.

**Author's Note:**

> My thanks to SherlockWatson_Holmes for inadvertently inspiring this by mentioning Mycroft waiting for election results. Of course I had to put Greg in there.


End file.
